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00:00At this time, we are in Kanpur, in the industrial zone of this industrial city, Panki, where
00:07we have with us today, an entrepreneur, who collected the flowers of the temple and started
00:14making Agarbatti.
00:15But this one idea of his, made such a change in his life, that apart from Agarbatti, now
00:22many of his products have come to the market, whose demand has gone from Uttar Pradesh to
00:28foreign countries.
00:29We have with us the industrialist, Ankit Akarwal.
00:31We will talk to him.
00:32He has a company called Phool.
00:33He is the founder and director of Phool.
00:34We will talk to him.
00:35Okay.
00:36First of all, welcome to YouTube.
00:38You directly, first of all, start with your controversial story, how did you get this
00:43idea and how did you collect the flowers of the temple and started making Agarbatti?
00:48So, this is the thing, when I used to work in Symantec before, I was an automation scientist
00:54there.
00:55So, I had a friend in the Czech Republic, his name is Yakub.
00:58So, he had come to India once and he was normally visiting Delhi, Agra, Mumbai.
01:04So, I told him that if you want to see our Indian culture, then you should go to our villages
01:10and all such places.
01:11So, in such a conversation, it happened that I live in Kanpur.
01:14He said, I live in Kanpur.
01:15I said, yes, okay, sure, come 100% please.
01:17So, then it happened that in Kanpur, you see, there are not many places where you can
01:21roam around.
01:22We will take you to the temple.
01:23Then I took a tour of Ganga ji's Ghat.
01:26So, we were sitting there.
01:28We were sitting there for about an hour and it started counting.
01:31About 150 people were counting on it, who were taking a dip in Ganga ji.
01:34Children, old people, were doing Sun Namaskar, were filling the pots.
01:38So, then the conversation started suddenly that why are these people doing this?
01:41So, I told him that Ganga ji is not just a river for us, it is our heritage, we worship
01:46it.
01:48So, then he asked me, if it is so revered, then why is it so dirty?
01:52Now, I did not have an answer to this.
01:54Fecal sludge, refusal of tamarind, all things used to go to Ganga ji at that time.
01:59And then he started talking suddenly that what is the country doing, what is the government
02:04doing, what is the common people doing?
02:06And I started telling him that gradually now the clean Ganga mission of the government
02:10has started, all these things.
02:11Then he suddenly said that why don't you do anything?
02:14So, I told him that the bigger your country is, the bigger my city is.
02:18So, if you make all the countries of Europe like this, then my country is bigger.
02:22So, it is easy to speak, but it is very difficult to do anything.
02:25And this conversation was already happening.
02:27Suddenly, in a nearby temple, Ganga ji put flowers in a tempo.
02:31Then from there, I felt that my grandfather, my father, all people give flowers in Ganga
02:36ji.
02:37Otherwise, we leave it under the tree in the temple.
02:41So, why can't something be done about this?
02:43And then I started researching from there.
02:45So, first of all, I did a simple Google search.
02:48And I saw that temple waste in India.
02:51So, no data came out.
02:53Then I saw the number of temples in India.
02:57There was no data on that.
02:59Then gradually, I decided that I have to leave my job.
03:02First of all, they started making manure from the flowers of the temple.
03:06And then they said that it was very difficult to sell manure.
03:09The cost of making manure was less than what people wanted to buy.
03:14Then gradually, I came to know that what else is around.
03:18Then suddenly, I thought, why don't we do Agarwati?
03:21Then I started researching the Agarwati industry.
03:25Then I understood that normally, Agarwati is made from coal.
03:31Then it happened that the world's first coal-based Agarwati was made.
03:36So, it started in 2017 and there was no money.
03:39So, I started selling everything online.
03:41It was the first company that started selling Agarwati online.
03:45Then it became a flower company.
03:48Yes, then it became a flower company from 2017.
03:51Then gradually, at the end of 2017, I got an idea.
03:55What else can be done with a flower?
03:58I was always looking for what else can be done.
04:02So, it came that how can something be developed with a packaging material?
04:06So, for that, I took help from IIT Kanpur.
04:09When did you go to IIT Kanpur?
04:11In 2017, I met Nachiket.
04:14And at that time, Nachiket was studying his M.Tech.
04:18He also did his M.Tech from IIT Bombay.
04:21All things were very good with him.
04:23Then gradually, we started researching what else can be made on flowers and products, biomaterials.
04:29Then gradually, it came that we can make an alternative to leather.
04:33And finally, in 2022, our material was properly ready.
04:37We named it Fleather.
04:39We got many awards in this.
04:42And Kanpur, which actually makes leather from animals, which has pollution,
04:46we developed this material from pollution in the same city.
04:51And now, in about 6 locations, we produce almost 17-18 tons of leather a day.
04:58Badrinath, Kedarnath, Banaras, Kanpur, Bodhiya, Ayodhya.
05:02All these places are our units.
05:04Some time ago, we got to know about Prince's Will Charge.
05:07Because there were 25-15 startups in the world that were selected.
05:10And your startup was selected.
05:12You also got a good $1.2 million award.
05:15So, what do you have to say about that?
05:17So, we got a nomination for Earthshot Prize.
05:20And that experience was very good.
05:22We got to meet Prince William.
05:24And his team supports us to take this innovation globally.
05:29And through his foundation, he selects such ideas every year,
05:35which can bring about a change in the world.
05:38And he is one of the best in the world.
05:43He has a good talent pool of ideas.
05:46Did you go to Prince's house after the Fool?
05:49Yes, I gave him a gift box.
05:51Our customers are all over the world.
05:53In which countries are you going after the Fool?
05:55We go to USA, Singapore, Germany.
05:58We go to many countries.
06:00And do you take care of your environment?
06:04Yes, we do.
06:06We have a brand called EcoSort Certification.
06:10We are Fair4Life Certification.
06:12So, in Fair4Life,
06:14everything from start to end,
06:18whether the production process is eco-friendly or not,
06:20whether you have a facility or not,
06:22whether you are following all the norms or not,
06:24whether you are not polluting the earth in any way,
06:28that means you are not doing noise pollution,
06:30even if there is asbestos on your roof,
06:32that is a negative point.
06:34If you had built a temple there,
06:36your product would have been launched there as well.
06:38What is going on with that now?
06:40There is a very good response.
06:42Our product was inaugurated by Mr. Yogi.
06:44And there is a very good response.
06:46The people of India are getting a good response.
06:48We are picking up the Fool from 9 temples every day.
06:50There is a good response.
06:52One last question.
06:54What is the future plan of Mr. Ankit Agarwal?